“I wasn’t sure I should raise my arms,” said a stunned but satisfied Andrew Talansky after scoring his first professional victory in Europe last week at the Tour de l’Ain.

The 23-year-old American had just powered away with Sergio Pardilla of Spain and Poland’s Rafal Majka on the final climb of the race’s fourth stage.

Without a race radio, Talansky wasn’t sure if he’d caught the last of the day’s early breakaway riders. But as he rounded the final corner and powered away from the Spaniard and the Pole, he glanced at the crowd, heard its roar, and threw up his hands as he crossed the finish line.

Talansky had started the day in third place, and the stage win catapulted the Garmin-Sharp rider into the leader’s jersey in France’s premier late-season stage race.

“I wasn’t the strongest on the last climb,” Talansky said before stepping onto the podium in Septmoncel, a mountain village in the Alps. “I was a bit on the limit. But winning is what counts.”

Despite earning the important stepping stone that is a first major professional victory, Talansky remained matter-of-fact about his success.

“Winning’s part of the process,” he said. “It’s the result of all the work. The team expects it, and I expect it.”

The Real Thing

One of the most promising talents of a new generation of American cyclists, Talansky spoke with Bicycling inside the Garmin team bus before the start of Stage 4 in Nantua.

He talked about his dubious European debut with the Italian Amore & Vita squad in 2009—“It wasn’t an ideal situation”—and he spoke of his friend and training partner Levi Leipheimer.

“He turned my career around,” Talansky said. “Being around Levi really showed me what was necessary to compete at this level.”

He also talked about the support of his Garmin team, which helped him through an early-season injury, after which he went on to finish second in the prestigious Tour of Romandie, slotting in just behind Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins in the final overall results.

“On Garmin it’s a different philosophy,” he said. “Here, things might go wrong, but they help you get back on track.”

He spoke eagerly of the Tour of Spain, which starts Saturday. Talansky will be Garmin’s leader for the general classification.

“There’s a ton of climbing,” he admitted, “but in a three-week race it’s more about consistency.”
Big Talent for Stage Races

Garmin team director Johnny Weltz said flatly: “Andrew is the prototype of a stage racer. Technically, he’s very good: He’s a good descender, a good time trailer, and a good climber. Andrew is young and very focused on what he’s doing.

“The only thing he needs is to race harder races so he can get the endurance,” he said.

Allan Peiper, Garmin’s director of competition, is more laudatory: “Andrew is the future of our team.”

“Andrew is savvy,” he said. “We can expect great things in front of us. But it is up to us to bring him along.”

Talansky’s only weakness, according to Weltz, is impatience.

“When he wants a drink, he doesn’t understand why it takes time for a team car to move up six positions. It’s good to be impatient, but it can also waste energy for the important moments of racing.”

Wearing the yellow jersey on the final stage of the Tour de l’Ain, Talansky rode with the calm of a seasoned pro.

He did not panic when the Spanish Movistar team accelerated, or after a host of French riders attacked on the last climb. “They didn’t give him any gifts,” Weltz said.

With his first significant stage win in hand, Talansky looks to the Vuelta.

“I rode the Tour of Spain last year. I came into it not nearly as good as I am this year. Last year I was covering early breaks from the start; this year it’s going to be more about conserving energy for three weeks.”

Talanksy said that he’s eyeing a top-10 finish. But mostly the Vuelta will be about building on what Garmin has done so far.

For Talansky, a three-week race should prove a perfectly good opportunity to practice a little patience, too.